With seven of 11 Board of Supervisor seats on the ballot, San Francisco voters can remake the district-elected panel. Here are our recommendations for the board.

District One (Richmond): Sue Lee. Experience and judgment count. Lee has served on the Planning Commission, worked for three mayors and staffed a neighborhood center. A Richmond District native, she knows the turf. Her outlook and temperament match this neighborhood which demands better Muni, clean streets and well-kept parks. Another impressive candidate in the race is Fidel Gakuba, a political newcomer who exudes poise, practicality and a command of the issues.

District Three (North Beach and Russian Hill): Denise McCarthy. In this crowded and big-budget contest, McCarthy stands out as the best choice. She has the balance and background from her 25 years as director of a community center and seven years on the Port Commission, a dominant agency in the district. In facing a worsening city budget, she's willing to consider the tough options of budget cuts and layoffs. Though her policy position put her on the left of the spectrum, she is open to other viewpoints and groups in this fractious corner of the city. Two other candidates are noteworthy for their commonsense, centrist approaches to the issues: attorney Joe Alioto Jr. and businesswoman Lynn Jefferson.

District Four (Sunset) Carmen Chu. Appointed to the seat vacated by the disgraced Ed Jew, Chu is obliged to run for election after only 14 months on the job. She has proved a quick study on the budget and is unafraid to buck the board's "progressive" majority. She's done this without the rancor and sharp words that have dimmed the reputation of the board. Chu has earned a full term.

District Five (Haight and Western Addition): Ross Mirkarimi. Incumbent Mirkarimi is running with little opposition, and it's no accident. He is hardworking, creative and outspoken about his district's problems which include a high homicide rate and school closures. We disagree with him various issues, including ballot measures that would stack the deck for government-run public power (Prop. H) and decriminalize prostitution (Prop. K). But he's shown an ability to find common ground on many issues - and has pushed the mayor for more police foot patrols, authored a crackdown on rogue pot clubs and led efforts to ban plastic bags.

District Seven (Lake Merced): Sean Elsbernd. This district, conservative by local standards, merits a leader attentive to the basics. Elsbernd fills the bill, remaining accessible and engaged. He's also taken a long-term, citywide view: Ordering City Hall's stream of bond measures to minimize politics and costs and laying out reforms for the city's costly health care pensions. He's quietly built a reputation as a knowledgeable mind on budget issues. He faces little opposition.

District Nine (Mission and Bernal Heights): Mark Sanchez. We are under no illusions about our top choice in this group, Mark Sanchez. He's a Green Party member who's unlikely to take moderate positions on housing, city finances or development. If he's elected, we suspect we will disagree with him more than occasionally. Still, he's proved to be a reasonable consensus builder as president of the Board of Education, and he's promised to make civility and compromise a priority as supervisor.

District 11 (Outer Mission): Ahsha Safaí. This district may be the most diverse - and the most neglected - in the city. It needs an active leader who can work with other supervisors and City Hall figures. Safaí knows the landscape: plans for a revived St. Luke's hospital, run-down parks and street crime. He also offers centrist views on citywide issues such as development, budget planning and reforms to the "sanctuary city" law to ensure that drug dealers are not obtaining safe harbor here.